Light in the East: Gowa-Talloq's empire and beyond

For the OP here I'm trying a new type of post - all in verse - mainly to improve my rhyming skills. I hope it's not too bad, though it might well be. So before I begin, I'll just quote a Malay poet from the seventeenth century (Sya'ir Perang Mengkasar, stanza 413):
Tidaklah panjang kissah memuji
Terlalu muskil pantun dan nyanyi
Jikalau salah sajak dan bunyi
Adalah satu nama yang keji.

I will not continue my eulogy
It is difficult to find a phrase that suits my poem;
If my rhymes are wrong or grate to the ear,
Harsh names I deserve to be called.
I have notes below the poem, if you're unsure about a reference.

---

A fine day, said the Dutchmen, such days are rare to dawn -
But to Makassar's children sunny day was night.
For Makassar's king to Heaven had withdrawn,
Whilst the port was blockaded by the Hollander blight.

It was on this day that the Prince heard the news,
And in the swamps of confusion was he mired;
"I am now King! Yet to be King I did not choose,
"I refuse these heavy duties which of me are required."

"Woe, woe is us! For Ternate is lost,
"No more are our stalls filled with cloves.
"Woe, woe is us! For we must meet war's cost,
"And I see depleted what were our treasure troves."

"How can I be king in a time such as this,
"How can I be king, a foolish man as I?"
Impaled in princely heart was Fate's biting
kris -
Lodged in his throat was resenting bitter sigh.


There passed by a fisherman who heard the Prince's cry,
He was from old Soppeng and a man of little note;
Yet the blood in his veins was as white as cloudy sky,
And like Aristotle to Iskandar he quoth:

Note, karaeng! [king!]
May I be greatly pardoned, my lord,
In front of your magnificence,
In the presence of your loftiness,
Beside your splendor.

My words are eternal, karaeng.
You are the wind, karaeng,
And we are the leaves.
You are the water, karaeng,
And we are the floating pieces.
You are the needle, karaeng,
And we are the sewed thread.
"I beg leave," said the Prince, "For I dare not yet be
"The winds and the waters, what you demand of me."
"A man of such feeble disposition like I
"Indeed is unworthy to a title so high."


The fisherman said, "Karaeng, this may not be."
"For Dewata Seuwae in his splendor does decree
"That you are king - for your father's in Paradise,

"And there is no one else who may suffice."

The Prince thought, then thought, and thought once more;
And finally he spoke, as Phalguna spoke to Krishna;
"A good king shall I be, whom all people shall adore,

"And my name shall be sung like the name of Arjuna."

"And my foes, oh you Hollanders, let you know fear,
"For Prince Muhtar hereafter is Makassar's spear.
"And this fisherman here, he shall be my adviser,
"Than many a king is this humble man wiser."

"I beg pardon, King, I am no fisher," quoth he,
"I am a noble disguised to see you on the throne,
"Gowa's golden settle reserved to you alone -
"Let us now depart, let us set Makassar free."


---

Notes:
  • This timeline is about the empire of Gowa-Talloq, generally (and erroneously) referred to as 'Makassar' by most foreign observers. Rising from one of many regional states to the greatest empire ever seen in eastern Indonesia in just two generations, it has been referred to as "arguably Indonesia's most imaginative early modern political experiment" and its rise to power as "one of the most rapid and spectacular success stories which Indonesian history affords."
  • Gowa-Talloq has been characterized an "omnivorous consumer of foreign technology and culture." Karaeng Pattingalloang, one of the chancellors of the empire, owned a vast library of European books and took care to procure telescopes and other scientific devices, while the production of detailed written chronicles, cannons and other firearms, brick fortifications, and coinage were all initiated or greatly expanded in this brief period.
  • This imperial phase of Gowa-Talloq lasted from approximately 1600 to 1669. It was ultimately brought down by an alliance between the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and Bone, the most powerful of the vassals of Gowa-Talloq, in the Makassar War from 1666 to 1669. The VOC considered Gowa-Talloq its archenemy because its free trade policy made a total Dutch monopoly on the fine spices almost impossible; Bone was angered because Gowa-Talloq had destroyed the local aristocracy and essentially enforced military rule on the country.
  • The POD may be revealed in more depth later, but essentially it is that a planned marriage between Prince I Daeng Mattola, the crown prince of Gowa, and I Lapalang, a princess from Boné, successfully occurred. IOTL, Lapalang died in 1630. Ten years later Boné rebelled against Gowa-Talloq's hegemony, leading to the abolition of the Boné monarchy, the deportation of the nobility, and ultimately the catastrophic circumstances of OTL.
  • The year the poem is set is in 1653, when Sultan Malikussaid (I Daeng Mattola) died just as the Dutch resumed their perennial war against Gowa-Talloq and blockaded the mighty city of Makassar. Due to the blockade and because of the consolidation of Dutch power in Ternate, the main source of cloves (the most expensive of spices), Makassar was in an economic crisis which I refer to in stanza 3. The prince - I Daeng Muhtar, the son of Malikussaid and Prince I Lapalang - would be about 22 and is hesitant to take the throne.
  • The noble pretending to be a fisherman is Daeng Serang, OTL better known as Arung Palakka. Arung Palakka was a prince of legendary bravery from the kingdom of Soppeng, whose leadership was one of the most important factors in the destruction of Gowa-Talloq during the Makassar War. He later became ruler of Boné and dominated South Sulawesi for an entire generation. ITTL he'll serve the empire he dismantled with relish in real life...
  • Nobles in South Sulawesi were believed to have white blood.
  • "Note, karaeng [...] the sewed thread" is OTL's customary oath of loyalty sworn by Makassar nobility to the king.
  • This poem is by a Malay resident of Makassar, which is why he uses the word 'Makassar.' This also explains both the references to Arjuna and Krishna and to Iskandar (Alexander of Macedon) and Aristotle. Malays were well-aware of the Mahabharata epic and had many legends (largely ahistorical) about Alexander and Aristotle. Most of the native elite of Gowa-Talloq would have known very little about Hindu epics and only somewhat more about Alexander.
  • Miscellaneous: Here's the link to the WP article on Kris. Phalguna is another name for Arjuna, the hero of the Mahabharata epic. Dewata Seuwae is the supreme deity of the Bugis people of South Sulawesi (most kingdoms in S. Sulawesi were Bugis, except for Gowa-Talloq itself) but was eventually merged with the Islamic God.
  • Very very simple map of Gowa-Talloq at its height. I'll make a more detailed map later, promise.
 
A map and a chart for today.

First, the Southeast Asian Archipelago at around 1653, at the accession of our prince. It took me five entire hours to make this map (including the research for borders), so yeah, I'm a little inordinately proud. :pThe picture quality was ruined when I accidentally used MS Paint instead of paint.net, but live with what you got, I guess. It would have taken another hour or two to fix the thing, and it's really just an aesthetic problem.

t1COZVM.png


A very short introduction to how all the major kingdoms shown on the map relate to the TL:
  • Gowa-Talloq (or Gowa): The main character.
  • Mataram: The most powerful Muslim kingdom this side of the Mughal empire. It would seem to be a suitable ally for Gowa-Talloq. Unfortunately, it has been ruled by a certain King Amangkurat I since 1646. Amangkurat is the greatest asshole in the entirety of Southeast Asia - one of his first acts as king was to execute 6,000 prominent religious leaders of the kingdom and all their families, and within the first few years of his reign the old courtiers who had served his father had mostly 'disappeared.' He has also banned fishing. At this point pretty much everyone - Gowa, the Dutch, Banten, his subjects - dislikes him to varying degrees.
    • Mataram's vassals: These are Jambi and Palembang in Sumatra and Sukadana and Banjarmasin in Borneo. For the most part they're only nominal vassals.
  • Banten: Gowa's closest ally. An opulent sultanate, but threatened by both Mataram and the Dutch.
  • Johor-Riau: The main player in the western Archipelago after the decline of Aceh, which may or may not play a role in the TL.
  • Dutch East India Company (VOC): The VOC is less of an asshole like Amangkurat and more of a psychopath mad for money. In the Company's unending quest to monopolize Southeast Asian products, the Dutch killed almost every member of the Bandanese nation for the crime of living in the world's only source of nutmeg. The surviving Bandanese were either turned into slaves or fled to Makassar. Gowa-Talloq helped these Bandanese refugees recover and is currently the main Eastern enemy of the Dutch.
  • Ternate: An unstable kingdom, one of the three or four main sources of cloves. In 1652 the Dutch convinced the sultan of Ternate to destroy every clove tree in his realm so the Dutch could enforce a monopoly on cloves and artificially raise the prices. There's also a Ternaten pretender in Makassar.
  • Tidore: Another source of cloves. There's a Spanish garrison in Tidore and its sultan has discreetly been open to an alliance with Gowa-Talloq in order to oppose its rival Ternate.
I might also post a map of South Sulawesi later, but as of now the TL will focus on diplomatic/region-wide developments.

And here's the chart, the basic bureaucratic structure of the Gowa-Talloq state. Also made by me.

nxGhyIU.png
 
I wish I knew more about this region and era. But everything I know points to this having some really interesting potential. Crush the Dutch!

Could Sulawesi be unified under Makassar/Gowa-Talloq, despite the topographical details of the island where it's easier to travel by sea than land?

And cue the Australia-related posts which any Makassar-related topic inevitably brings up.
 
HELL YES! I didn't know you'd actually start doing the TL from IS's thread. This is great :extremelyhappy:.

I like the poem. Especially this part:

"My words are eternal, karaeng.
You are the wind, karaeng,
And we are the leaves.
You are the water, karaeng,
And we are the floating pieces.
You are the needle, karaeng,
And we are the sewed thread."

I'm getting hyped :D.

You're also explaining quite well. If there's anything in particular you'd like comments on, don't hesitate to ask.

Questions: I remember you saying that the city of Makassar eventually recovered due to Qing merchants. Can you go into more detail about that?
 
Could Sulawesi be unified under Makassar/Gowa-Talloq
At least for coastal areas it likely was OTL, as per my map above if you missed that. To be more detailed, with specific reference to each peninsula of the island (map including all the weird toponyms I mention):

Every source agrees that Gowa-Talloq controlled the entirety of the South Peninsula. In the Minahasa Peninsula polities in the southern handle of the peninsula near modern Palu and Dongalla were subjugated repeatedly after the mid-16th century. The western peninsula was fully integrated into the empire in the early 17th century, Gorontalo somewhat later in 1638, and the eastern tip of the peninsula at some unknown date. The East and Southeast Peninsulas were wrested from Ternaten control in the early 17th century. In non-peninsular Sulawesi, the Mandar people, who had been Gowa's vassals since the reign of Tunipalangga in the mid-16th century, were as well-integrated into Gowa's sphere of hegemony as the Bugis. The last vassals to be loyal to Gowa - resisting the VOC even after Gowa itself had accepted defeat - were the Mandar kingdoms. Besides the Mandar, Tunipalangga also took Budo-Budo near modern Mamuju as his vassal, and again in the early 17th century polities between the South and Southeast Peninsulas were subjugated. Even among the mountainous homelands of the Toraja Gowa's influence was felt.

And cue the Australia-related posts which any Makassar-related topic inevitably brings up.
It's a little sad that the only thing Makassar is known for among most of those who are aware of their existence is their contact with Australia. It's as if the only thing the Norse were known for is their discovery of Vinland.

But anyhow, about Australia. By 1800 a thousand people or so from South Sulawesi, belonging to both the Makassar and Bugis ethnicities, were annually sailing to Maregeq (eastern Arnhem Land) or Kai Jawa (the Kimberley Coast) to engage in commerce with Australians (I won't call them Aborigines since the 'Aborigines' were still the only people in Australia). A lot of people think the Makassar just came to take sea cucumber and left, but the reality was much more complex. Large numbers of Australian men worked for Makassar fishermen to collect sea cucumbers in return for pay in food and tobacco, while Australians also sold turtle-shell, bezoar stones, pearls, and horn. The Makassar almost always sought permission from Australian leaders to fish and collect sea cucumber, while many Makassar ships sailed home with Australian wood. Australia was an integrated part of the wider Southeast Asian trading network that emerged in the early 1700s.

There is a great deal of controversy about when this form of commerce all began, but sources from South Sulawesi, as well as archaeological evidence generally, tend to suggest that the trepang trade began in the mid/late 1600s and expanded to Australia somewhat later, most likely in the early 1700s. This is all ultimately thanks to China. The consolidation of Qing authority over the entirety of the country was completed by 1683, and in 1684 the Kangxi emperor reopened China to all foreign trade. Great numbers of Chinese ships set off into the southern seas once more. But unlike Muslims, Indians, or Europeans, the Chinese weren't very interested in spices. What they wanted were quite peculiar: tortoise-shell, bird's nest, sandalwood, and sea cucumber. And because Qing China was the richest empire East Asia would ever see, it was fully capable of purchasing unbelievably large quantities of these commodities - sea cucumber, for example, was a rare medicine in the 1500s but had become a required dish in any respectable feast under the more affluent Qing. South Sulawesi fishermen took advantage of this situation to greatly expand their commercial reach, including to Australia. We know the emergence of Australia as a major sea cucumber producer was accidental (one ship was collecting cucumber near Timor, got blown southeast, and found a coastline full of largely unexploited sea cucumber populations). Eventually there were occasional Makassar fleets as far east as the Torres Straits.

Had Gowa-Talloq survived, the Makassar exploitation of the Qing demand for sea cucumber would surely have occurred earlier and on a larger scale - the VOC tried to suppress Makassar trade and Chinese activities in South Sulawesi, whereas Gowa-Talloq would have actively encouraged both. We know there were occasional conflicts between the Makassar and the Australians. With the continued existence of Makassar's empire providing security for its merchants, and with a lot more foreigners on Australian shores, these conflicts may have occurred more frequently. At this point Gowa-Talloq's government has a few options:
  • Ignore the conflicts. Pro: Saves money, at least in the short term, by not fighting hunter-gatherers in a desolate land. Cons: May discourage trade; encourages Makassar traders to take things into their own hands, possibly encouraging more conflict
  • Encourage the merchants to always pay the customary tribute to the Australians, treat them with respect, etc. Pro: Saves money; may prevent future conflicts somewhat. Cons: Impossible to enforce; easily seen as humiliating surrender to savages
  • Send troops to subjugate the Australians and make them accept the Karaeng Gowa's authority, Islamizing them if possible in the process. One of the conventional Makassar solutions to these types of problems. Pro: If done well, ends conflicts definitively. Cons: Unlike the Austronesian kingdoms and chiefdoms easily subjugated by Gowa-Talloq, the people of northern Australia have no kings or hereditary chiefs, are semi-nomadic without obvious food sources to destroy, and live in a barren terrain. In other words, no single authority who can be forced to submit; very difficult to starve them out with limited resources; (very) expensive; as news spreads, any goodwill the Australians had for their visitors significantly reduced
  • Arm the Makassar ships sailing southeast, encourage them to take necessary measures. Pros: Relatively cheap; Makassar ships can protect themselves and react to circumstances as they see fit; potential of small colonies independently established by merchants to protect ships from hostile natives. Cons: Encourages conflict with Australians, especially as there is no single authority commanding the fleets; makes armed conflict between competing Makassar ships easier.
  • Remove native population and found state-backed colonies/forts protect the merchants. Pros: Unsure. Cons: Constant conflict with Australians; extremely expensive; contrary to established Gowa-Talloq procedure
  • Use economic and cultural influence of the Makassar traders (already very significant OTL) to absorb local groups of Australians into the Gowa-Talloq sphere of influence as 'children' of Gowa. Another conventional Makassar solution to these problems. Pros: Bloodless; inexpensive; Australians can appeal to Makassar to address major grievances or conflicts with merchants, allowing the government greater authority over its Australian periphery. Con: Gowa-Talloq has never integrated a semi-nomadic, mainly non-agricultural people as its children, so this would probably demand novel strategies; may anger Makassar merchants who feel as if the government has given in to the Australians
I like the final option best - if only because submission to Gowa-Talloq generally required at least nominal conversion to Islam, and native Australian Islam is just delicious - but we'll see. Maybe I'll make the Australia questions as a new thread to get opinions from resident Aussies/people knowledgeable about Australia who aren't on this TL, like Jared.
 
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What was it that allowed Gowa-Talloq to become so powerful anyways? Did they have any particular resources or organization that other Muslim SE Asian states didn't?
 
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